From what I can see Volvo is the most common Stern dirve in hard Boats why??, And no one seems to fault there legs... ( they charge like a wonded bull for parts though...)

But in Ribs , Yanmar/ Mercurser combo seems the most common??

Also People have broken a couple of bravo 3 legs, but I havent heard of anyone breaking a Volvo duo prop leg.... well if this is the case why not use Volvos in RIBS then?????( I know some do, but why not more common)

And then there is Yamaha and Hydradrive.... Well Alan Priddy Proved that one, But he did go through a couple legs...

NOTE.... Alans legs seemed to die from heat and heavy loads. I heard of a guy in New Zealand in a fast commercial fishing boat with the same problem, On leg No 3 in 18months he dicovered by taking of the top cover on the leg and fitting a water spray hose over the top of Leg ( like the shower system on SOC) this Solved the problem and the leg is going about 2 years now without a hitch...????

Originally posted by TIM Volvo is the most common Stern dirve in hard Boats why??,

- Heresay is that Volvo have a good scheme for large boatbuilders, something along the lines of "you pay us when you've sold the boat" - the ultimate cashflow solution for a builder who might have a million quid's worth of stock engines in uncompleted hulls - how could you turn that down if you're a boat builder? Even if it means that you only offer one propulsion system!

We have all reserched the market this yr and last and decided for our own reasons that this gives us the best chance of getting what we hope are the best drives and engine combinations we could get for our new ribs.

There are others who have got Yanmars with 3x/2x that they felt was there way to go,we shall see over time which has indeed turned out to be the best decision

Alans leg I believe didnt fail cos they wore out but cos he hit a fish farm in it.He was doing extream milleage as you know.

The problem is if you want the best combination IMHO then you are going to have to be a bit unpopular to achieve it as the Trade will want you to have the engine they get the best deal on,not nesesarily the best engine and leg combination for you.

I hope this helps and feel free to email me if you want to get to the real nitty gritty.

Ps As far as I am aware none of us above have decided on Volvo Kads for the above reasons

Pepper what engineering background and experience have you on the Hydra Drive.We went for the New Kad based on reports from people who were using them day in and day out.And the Trade and press and what we could see for our selves.

So tell me Pepper Given your explanation of it goes into gear smooth what are these enginering bits that make it very good?

Have you owned one? If so what boat and how many hours you done and what do you base the recomendation on?

Have you had any problems and what is the service like.

AP recomends them as he has been round the world on them

But forgive me for being a little scepticle on your recomendation but please explain your case.

And I ain't taken one apart - that would just be foolish, wouldn't it... I'd be no more likely to take a yamaha hydra drive leg apart than I would to stip down my merc's auto box. I just know what I like, and enjoy using things that work correctly and feel "right".

As I said, anything that don't go "crunch" as you engage gear has got to be good!

Certainly used a Volvo duoprop leg that has self destructed. Have to find engine/leg details for you tho' - cos it (fortunately) wasn't one of mine, I was just the semi regular coxswain - can tell you where the dipstick, inlet filter etc. is tho' !

Using Alan Priddy as an example doesn't really stack up, last time I was at his place he seemed to have rather a lot of drive parts, and he is a gearbox specialist, and was sponsored by Yamaha.

A better example of Yamaha drive reliability might be the guy with the twin installation in a Delta, based at Drivers Wharf. He has done an amazing amount of miles with this boat, but has gone through an amazing amount of drives!

I suggest you ask him what he thinks of them!

As for Volvo drives being the choice of most British boat builders, I think you will find that the Engine is the deciding factor, and you then use what ever drive this comes with.

Volvo just happens to have an excellent choice of engines in the 2-300hp diesel range, best suited for 30+ foot cruisers, where as the Merc range is crap, IMHO and the Yanmar good but not suited to the Merc drive for reasons to numerous to mention.